How should I deal with spaces in my dynamic (php) links ?

[jeddiki]

Hi,
I am generating dynamic links and some don't work.

Is it because they have a space in the link ?

eg: from the name "David Franklyn", I get the link

<a href="www.mysit e/David Franklyn/sports/Franklyn.html"> David Franklyn</a>

What would be the best way to deal with the spaces ?

Is it wrong to have spaces in a URL ?

Should I replace with the underscore
or the dash or period ?

Thanks for your advice

[Markus]

If names with spaces in is the common denominator, then take a look at: http://uk2.php.net/urlencode

Also, is that the actual output?

<a href="www.mysite/David Franklyn/sports/Franklyn.html">David Franklyn</a>

If it is, you're missing the .com, .co.uk, etc.

[jeddiki]

Hi,
I took the ".com" off so that this forum s/w didn't turn it nto a link.

The urlencode() changes spaces to "%20"

so I guess that is ok to use.
Maybe its the best thing to use ?

[Markus]

Hi,
I took the ".com" off so that this forum s/w didn't turn it nto a link.

The urlencode() changes spaces to "%20"

so I guess that is ok to use.
Maybe its the best thing to use ?

Sure, %20 and + both do the same thing (near enough). Does encoding your url work then?

[Atli]

Hi.

One other thing, your URL is missing the "http://" or "https://" part.
If you omit them the URL will be treated as a relative path and simply added to the current URL.

That is, if you are currently on: "http://www.example.com "
And you click a link that links to: "www.php.ne t"
You end up at "http://www.example.com/www.php.net"

[Markus]

Hi.

One other thing, your URL is missing the "http://" or "https://" part.
If you omit them the URL will be treated as a relative path and simply added to the current URL.

That is, if you are currently on: "http://www.example.com "
And you click a link that links to: "www.php.ne t"
You end up at "http://www.example.com/www.php.net"

You know, I thought that, but then for some reason I decided it was wrong. Darn!

[jeddiki]

Thanks for input.

Actually these are all internal links, I added the "www.mysite/" just to make
more obvious that it is a link.

so in fact I am talking a link that looks like :
David Franklyn/sports/Franklyn.html
or
David_Franklyn/sports/Franklyn.html
or
David-Franklyn/sports/Franklyn.html
or
David%20Frankly n/sports/Franklyn.html

[TheServant]

I don't know if you can name a folder or page with a space in it. So no, I think you need either no space or an underscore.

[Atli]

Actually these are all internal links, I added the "www.mysite/" just to make
more obvious that it is a link.

Ok. For future reference, please don't do that. It is easier for us to understand what is going on if we are looking at the actual code or data you are using.

I don't know if you can name a folder or page with a space in it. So no, I think you need either no space or an underscore.

What OS do you use... Windows 95? :P

Unless you are using some ancient system, you can use spaces in folder names, but this can cause problems in some cases. It is best to avoid doing this.

If the path is going to be a part of an URI, don't use spaces. Use underscores, or one of the many naming conventions typically used for computer programming.
likeWhenWeCapit alizeEveryWord, or add_underscores _to_seperate_th em.

If you use actual spaces, it will have to be converted to %20 for the URL, which is not good.

[TheServant]

What OS do you use... Windows 95? :P

lol. I was just taught not to use them and I guess I must have presumed that they eithe don't work or cause problems. But even for readability, I find using spaces seems to separate what is actually together. And to clarify, this is my web folders view, not windows folders :P